This chart shows typical migration patterns and peak run timing for wild-origin adult fish returning to the Clackamas River. For many winter steelhead, spring Chinook, coho and Pacific lamprey, their journey to spawning grounds includes passage through the Clackamas River Hydroelectric Project. For up-to-date numbers from our adult sorting facility, see Daily Fish Counts.
Adult wild winter steelhead begin to enter the Clackamas River in November and spawn in late March to mid-June. Spawning winter steelhead can be found throughout the Clackamas Basin and its major tributaries. Steelhead are diadromous, meaning some adult fish may repeat their migration back to the ocean after spawning, before returning to the Clackamas to spawn again.
In the mid-1990s, the number of adults returning to the Clackamas River sharply declined. Since 2000, the annual count of wild winter steelhead adults passed through the North Fork adult sorting facility has averaged 1,256, with the highest return occurring in 2024 with 3,282 adult fish.
Wild winter steelhead at the North Fork adult fish sorting facility.
